Loose leaf binder



E. G. ALDEN ET AL LOOSE LEAF BINDER Filed Jan. 17, 1924 I JUL PatentedMay 19, 1925.

EARLE e. ALDEN, nanny Karine-MAN]; JOHN-"P. sQ'UaRns; or nnn vnnooLonAno'r LOOSE LEAF Brnnnn.

Application filed January, 1924. Seria1'No. 686,8.70.

Z 0 a ZZ. whom it may, concern:

Be it known that w.e,,EAnLn- II-ARRY B. ALDEN, and JOHN P. SQUIRES, allcitizens of" the United States of America, residing at Denver, in thecounty of Denver and State of Colorado, have invented certain new anduseful-Improvements in Loose-Leaf Binders, of whiclrthe followingisgaspecification. H

This lIIVBDt-l'OILlGliLtGS to looseleaf binders of the type described indetail in the applica tion of one of the Oct. 16, 1922, Serial No, 59'i,900, patented Feb. 19, 1924-, Patent No..1,4t83',862,.and has. for itsprincipalv object the provision, in

binder of this charactenof means whereby loops of" the binder Wlll eachof arches or come in perfect. contact Withnits standard, irrespective ofthe relative position. of each of the other loops. 7 I p Another objectof the invention-is to provide means for aligning the loopswith theirstandards and. for: locking them 1n alignment.

A further objectis torso construct andarrange the trigger-o1: releasingmechanism thatitwill occupy, a minimum of? space in order that the baseboard of. the binder need not be made unnecessarily thick A stillfurther obj ect of the invention is to providemeans iirthe-binder coverfor insuringtheproperuspaoing of the openings therein, and forprotecting the cover from injury at these openings.

Other objects and advantages reside in the detail construction of theinvention, which result in simplicity, economy, and efliciency, andwhich will become more apparent from the following description.

In the following detailed description of the invention reference is hadto the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof. Like numeralsrefer to like parts in all views of the drawing and throughout thedescription.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal vertical section through the invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan View, partly in section, said section beingtaken on the line 22, Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail View of the trigger mechanism. Themechanism being shown in open position.

Fig. '1- is a detail View of the joint between G.: ALDEN,

present inventors, filed the fixed and. movable 111g loops.

Let the numeral 10 designate a base board portions of theb-ind toone endot' which the. operating mech leather, etc.,surrounds the base board 10and i the operating mechanism.

The operating mechanism is contained between two plates, the bottomplate, 12, extends back under and is secured to the base boardlO" bymeans of screws 13; The top plate, 1%, is-secured to the bottom by meansof'suitable screws 15, and' 'is held in spaced relation therewith byspacer washer-1:6.

A series offixed, vertical standards 17 are secured in thebottomplate-12'and project upward through the top plate 14, Thestandards 17 are also providedwith spacer washers 18. j

A similar series of rotatable loopedstand ards 19are journaled in theplates 12and' 14 and project upward therefron'i to coa'ct with thefixedstandards 17." Secured to the standards 19,.between the plates12and' 14, are levers 20, all of which means of common connection bar 21A spring 27* forces a pivotedlever or trigger 22jinto engagei'nent. witha notch '23 in the edge of the connecting bar 21, as shown in Fig 3,wlienthe' loops havebeenturned to the open position, as showninbrokenline':

at 24:, and locks the loops open. 'Thetrigger 22 is provided with abutton 25, which operates in an arcuate slot 26 in the plate 14, and bymeans of which the trigger is released from engagement with the bar 21.By having the trigger operate horizontally and engage the edge of thebar 21, a great saving of vertical space is obtained which allows thebase board 10 to be made much thinner than when the lever operatesvertically and engages notches in the top of the bar 21, as in theprevious application.

It will be noted that only one of the levers 20 is directly pivoted tothe bar 21, it being shown at 2 All other levers have their pivot pinsoperating in slotted holes 29, in the bar 21. The purpose of this is toac complish the primary object of our invention, viz, to allow each ofthe loops to come into contact with its standard independent of thecontact of each of the other loops.

It was found practically impossible to plate 12' are operated by bringall of the loops of a series into contact when the levers were alldirectly pivoted, as shown in the said previous application, for if oneof loops should contact with its standard before the others, because ofinjury or imperfect manufacture, it would prevent all of the others fromcoming into contact. With the use of the slotted holes 29 and byproviding each lever operating in a slotted hole with an independentspring 30, this difliculty has been eliminated for each loop is allowedan independent radius of operation which allows its spring to draw itinto contact regardless of the position of the connecting bar 21.

A spring 31 operates the bar 21 and the loop whose lever is directlypivoted thereto.

It has been found, especially where the standards are long and the bookis thick, that some means are required for drawing the extremities ofthe standards into on gagement and holding them there. WVe haveaccomplished this by cutting the extremities so as to form a lap joint,as shown in Fig. 4, and by providing one of the coacting laps with atapered pin 32, which engages an opening 33 in the other of the coactinglaps. Should the two contacting extremities be slightly out of alignmentwhen the pin contacts with the opening 33, it,

being tapered,

will draw the parts into alignment as it passes into the opening.

A cover 3& is provided to enclose the bound sheets, designated at 35.The cover is similar to thatin'the said copending application with theexception that a metal bar 36 is bound into the extremity of said cover.The bar 36 has openings which register with the spacing of the standards12 and through which they are passed. It prevents damage to the cover bythe standards and insures the proper spacing of the openings therein.

While specific forms of the improvements have been described andillustrated herein, it is desired and understood that the same may bevaried, within the scope of the appended claims, spirit of theinvention.

Having thus described our invention what we claim and desire to secureby Letters Patent is 1. A loose-leaf binder comprising rotatable archstandards; a lever arm secured to each of said standards; a commonconnecting bar, provided with slotted holes; pivot pins in said leverarms traveling in said slotted holes and an independent spring acting oneach of said cranks.

2. A loose-leaf binder comprising a housing; coacting fixed androtatable standards ing bar connecting said rotatable standards andhaving a notch formed in the edge thereof and a horizontally-movablepivoted lever engaging, at its one extremity, in said notch when therotatable standards are in the open position and projecting, at itsother extremity, through an opening in said hous- 3. A loose-leaf bindercomprising fixed standards; rotatable standards coacting therewith;lever arms secured to said rotatable standards; a connecting-barconnecting the extremities of said lever arms, said connection beingsufficiently flexible to allow each standard to move through arelatively small are independently of the others and sufficiently rigidto cause all said arch stand-' ards to operate simultaneously through arelatively greater arc.

In testimony whereof, we aflix our signatures. I EARLE Gr. ALDEN. HARRYB. ALDEN. JOHN P. SQUIRES.

without departing from the carried on said housing; a common connect-

